Thursday, November 15, 2012

Since I Procrastinated All Day

I guess I will write this now, at 3 am. I spent so much time looking for my little notebook with all my notes about my books (yes, this does exist) that I was late getting my paper done (also I didn't want to do it so it took longer) and thus it is now super late, I still haven't found that notebook, and I really want my review done for Lost Prince. I have several other books to review at this point (they are all in the missing notebook too), but I want this one done first. So, without anymore back story, and without any idea what I was going to write (since I read this a couple weeks ago), here's that review much promised.

This is the 5th book in the Iron Fey series, well kind of. The first 4 all go together and wrap up very nicely by the end of book 4. (See previous review for that one since I REALLY loved that series). This, though, is the tale of Megan and Ash's son (that's kind of a spoiler, but not really because it's not a hard thing to figure out, especially if you read Iron's Prophecy). So anyway, we have Kierran (their son) and Ethan (Megan's brother) and their trying to save all the half-bloods and exiles in the human realm. They don't know what's destroying them (also, not hard to figure out if you've read the other 4), but they're determined to risk their lives to find out. Ethan has also managed to charm a girl into coming with them, without actually meaning to. Mostly, Kenzie is just being really stubborn and is bored with her life. That's the plot without giving much away.

What I liked: Not a whole lot, honestly. I liked having Grimalkin around again. I liked a few scenes of Ethan with his martial arts. I did really like getting a glimpse at how the Iron Realm was doing after the fey wars. I also really liked Kierran and his girlfriend. I wish the story had been about them. Kierran reminds me of Puck, but in a good way. I liked seeing Puck and Ash for the 15 seconds they show up, but I was lead to believe they'd be in the story more than they were.

What I did not like: I feel like I've already read this, really. There are so many elements of this story that were too much like the first series: There's a new type of Fey and the Fey world is going to have to learn how to adapt so they can all live happily together.
Ethan has a macho attitude and it's just silly a lot of the time. Kenzie is said to be this strong, brave warrior type heroine, but really if I have to be told that's who she is, rather than shown, it's not the same. I felt like she was annoying and in the way for the most part. Kagawa writes a few "shocking" moments in, but they are foreshadowed so blatantly that it's not a shocking moment at all.

I felt about this book the same as I did the first one of the first series. It doesn't seem like Kagawa knows her characters well enough to write them. And it seems she is riding the wave of the popularity of the first 4. Maybe the second one will be better. This faerie world was one I was so engulfed in that I didn't want the first 4 books to be over so I picked this up as soon as we got it in at work. I will still read the rest of the books that go with this as they come out, but I think I could have been happier just ending with the original Iron Fey series. If you read the first ones, I would not recommend this. I have no idea how this book got such great reviews, unless a lot was overlooked and/or the audience reading this did not read the others.